Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings challenge religious and moral hypocrisy.
Paul, in his continuing letter to the Galatians, counsels them about the practice of circumcision. But his counseling is really about freedom in Christ.
In Paul’s time, circumcision had religious significance as a sign of inclusion in the Jewish nation. Some Jewish Christians mistakenly taught that a Gentile must first become a Jew, through the law of circumcision, in order to become a Christian.
Paul condemns this error, reminding the Galatians that the grace given to us in Christ is beyond the Law.
For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
In the Gospel, Jesus condemns any religious practice that is empty and just for show. He compares such rituals to cups, whose clean exterior hides a corrupt interior. Jesus says that the remedy to this hidden nastiness is to give alms, to be merciful.
We are all aware of pharisaical behavior within our religious institutions. We have seen disgusting evidence of it in sexual predation among clergy. We see it when exaggerated religious rituals are substituted for sincere, communal worship. We see it when the small, visible mistakes of others are used to hide the gaping faithlessness of the condemner. Sometimes, we are even caught in the judgmental nets these pretenses spin.
When we are confused by such situations, look to the words of Jesus and Paul today:
Look for faith working through love. Look for a generous heart that sees and comforts the poor.
If our “religious” observance results in any form of exclusion, prejudice, condemnation or unforgiveness, we can be sure it is not of God.
Poetry: by Omar Khayyam
If you will listen to me,
I will give you some advice:
[Here it is]
For the love of God
put not on the mantle
of hypocrisy.
Eternity is for all time,
and this world
is but an instant.
Then sell not for an instant
the empire
of eternity.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we are challenged to assess our true and deepest values.
Our first reading describes a moment when God and Moses are having a nice chat. Suddenly, God makes Moses aware of the fact that his people have gone haywire:
The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’
Exodus 32: 7-8
It might seem crazy to us that people would worship a metal statue. But let’s take a look at what that golden calf represents. The idol is a symbol of the Israelite community’s “economy”, what they really deem most important, what they really worship when they think God isn’t looking. When they look upon the idol’s golden reflection, they see themselves mirrored back the way they want to be – rich, powerful, and dominant.
In our society, those desires may not reside in a golden calf – but maybe in a shiny car, a flashy gemstone, a corner office, an elite club membership, an ivy league degree, etc. Does this mean that such things are necessarily wrong! Not really. It means that when these things become our gods, captivating our attention and worship, then we have really lost our soul.
When we begin to believe that such idols make us who we are, we disconnect from God Who actually makes us who we are.
Further, we disconnect from the human community which is meant to mirror God’s face to us.
As our Psalm reminds us: Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock. They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.
Psalm 106:19-22
In our Gospel today, Jesus confronts a group of Pharisees and others who have their own sort of “golden calf”. They have turned their religion into a tool to gain power and dominate others. They are no longer open to God and to the message Jesus offers them. They see their fellow humans as “things” to be used for their own advancement:
But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.
John 5:37-40
There are serious warnings in our readings today. Perhaps some of them might speak to us personally. And for certain, they speak to us as a society. May we hear God’s voice in whatever way we need to.
Poetry: The Golden Calf – by John Newton
When Israel heard the fiery law,
From Sinai's top proclaimed;
Their hearts seemed full of holy awe,
Their stubborn spirits tamed.
Yet, as forgetting all they knew,
Ere forty days were past;
With blazing Sinai still in view,
A molten calf they cast.
Yea, Aaron, God's anointed priest,
Who on the mount had been
He durst prepare the idol-beast,
And lead them on to sin.
Lord, what is man! and what are we,
To recompense thee thus!
In their offence our own we see,
Their story points at us.
From Sinai we have heard thee speak,
And from mount Calv'ry too;
And yet to idols oft we seek,
While thou art in our view.
Some golden calf, or golden dream,
Some fancied creature-good,
Presumes to share the heart with him,
Who bought the whole with blood.
Lord, save us from our golden calves,
Our sin with grief we own;
We would no more be thine by halves,
But live to thee alone.
Music: Song of the Golden Calf from the opera Faust by Gounod.
The aria is delivered by Mephistopheles who is associated with the Faust legend of an ambitious scholar, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust. In the legend, Faust makes a deal with the Devil at the price of his soul, Mephistopheles acting as the Devil’s agent.
The calf of gold is still standing! One adulates his power, One adulates his power, From one end of the world to the other end! To celebrate the infamous idol, Kings and the people mixed together, To the somber sound of golden coins, They dance a wild round Around his pedestal Around his pedestal And Satan leads the dance, etc, etc.
The calf of gold is the victor over the gods! In its derisory (absurd) glory, In its derisory (absurd) glory, The abject monster insults heaven! It contemplates, oh weird frenzy! At his feet the human race, Hurling itself about, iron in hand, In blood and in the mire, Where gleams the burning metal, Where gleams the burning metal, And Satan leads the dance,etc.
(Some of my longtime followers might recognize an old story today. I like it so much that iI repeated it. Hope you don’t mind. Thanks for sticking with me.)
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings talk about how we try to “house” God.
Because God is bigger than BIG, our minds struggle. More than struggle, they actually fail, repeatedly, to define God. Yet we still try, don’t we?
We try to picture, describe, paint, quote, and interpret God. We even decide what God wants and create laws to insure God gets that.
We dilute Divinity to our human dimensions. We just can’t take it straight. We mix it and bottle it in our laws, and box it in our rituals — because we can’t manage Omnipotence.
Praying with these thoughts today, I think of my Dad. He liked an occasional jigger of really fine bourbon – savored in its unadulterated state, without water or soda – what today’s purists call “sipping whisky”.
When the doctor informed him, unfortunately in my mother’s presence, that whisky was a no-no, Dad didn’t like it. But he acquiesced. At least we thought he did.
After Dad died, my brother and I found his bottle of Kentucky bourbon wrapped in a towel in the basement dryer. You see, only Dad did the wash. Mom never liked machines.
I think Jesus would have really enjoyed my Dad as one of his original disciples. Dad liked life “straight”. His faith was simple, direct, complete and undiluted. Sitting with Jesus that Gospel day, Dad wouldn’t have washed his hands either. He would have been too busy listening to the pure, unbottled Word pouring over him.
The message I took from today’s prayer:
Be very wary of anyone who thinks they know exactly what God wants.
Let God out of the boxes I put Him in.
Invite God’s Spirit to run free through my heart.
Don’t bottle God up; don’t box God in.
Enjoy sipping God’s surprising and infinite grace.
Poetry: Hypocrisy – attributed to Omar Khayyam
If you will listen to me, I will give you some advice: [Here it is] For the love of God put not on the mantle of hypocrisy. Eternity is for all time, and this world is but an instant. Then sell not for an instant the empire of eternity.
Music:New Pharisees – Charlie Daniels Band (Lyrics below)
New Pharisees
They go walking into church every Sunday morning They the self-appointed sin patrol Well they whisper and they gossip behind the back Of anybody that they can’t control
See that girl in the choir she’s got evil desires She must be drinking from the devil’s well She’s a downright disgrace with that paint on her face She looks just like a Jezebel
And they’re running around putting everybody down What are you trying to do? You need to pick up the Book and take another look ‘Cause brother I’ve got the news for you
You know Jesus was sent with a new covenant And he even died for you New pharisees like a fatal disease Always flapping your jaws trying to live by the law
You see that boy over there with that long shaggy hair Ought to be ashamed of his self He wearing hip-hop clothes got a ring in his nose Don’t he know he going straight to hell
And then yesterday morning me and sister Johnson Were talkin’ on the party line She said that Deacon Brown was having dinner downtown Somebody seen him with a glass of wine
And you act so righteous and you look so pious You always pay your tithe But there’s a rock in your heart and a fire on your tongue And there ain’t no love in your eyes
Bad news is begotten and the devil is smiling You gossip and you criticize New pharisees like a fatal disease Always flapping your jaws trying to live by the law
Well you can’t get by the law so quit flapping your jaws New pharisees yes, you’re a lot like me
Today, in Mercy, celebrate the Feast of St. Augustine who gave us such beautiful quotes as these:
These quotes reflect a clarity of soul Augustine pursued all his life. He was a brilliant philosopher, intellectual, and poet. His early spiritual practice struggled for years to break through the shell of philosophy into the heart of true faith.
Eventually, through the prayers of his mother Monica and the gentle guidance of St. Ambrose, Augustine’s searching soul found God as reflected in today’s choice for a Responsorial Psalm:
Lord, you have searched me and known me; you understand everything I do; you are closer to me than my thoughts. You see through my selfishness and weakness, into my inmost self.
There is not one corner of my mind that you do not know completely. You are present before me, behind me, and you hold me in the palm of your hand.
Such knowledge is too awesome to grasp: so deep that I cannot fathom it. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I take the wings of the morning and fly to the ends of the sea, even there your hand will guide me and your spirit will give me strength. ~ A Book of Psalms by Stephen Mitchell
Some of us , no matter how hard we try, have a tortuous path to spiritual peace. Augustine is a saint because he never abandoned that path.
Paul’s Thessalonians seemed to have had an easier way:
And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly,
that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us,
you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God,
which is now at work in you who believe.
Jesus, in Matthew’s Gospel continues his tirade against those who only appear to seek that path to spiritual sincerity and whole-heartedness:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
The etymological root of the word “hypocrisy” is to “under decide” – a kind of half-heartedness, a falsely comfortable pretense, a neither “here nor there” attitude that safeguards our worldly advantage but paralyzes us on the path to holiness.
Augustine lived in that limbo for a long time. He came late to true Beauty, Love and Clarity. Oh, but what a transformation!
Lavish Mercy 